The US Supreme Court decided two cases Tuesday. In Summers v. Earth Island Institute the Court ruled 5-4 that a group of environmentalists cannot sue to have a Forest Service regulation struck down, as they are limited only to suing to end programs enacted under that regulation. Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia found [...]
One in 31 US adults are on probation, in prison, or on parole, according to a report released Monday by the Pew Center on the States . The report found that men are five times more likely than women to be under correctional control, although the number of women continues to grow. Black adults are [...]
US Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday reaffirmed his opposition to waterboarding as an acceptable interrogation device. In a speech before the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Holder emphasized the need to return to the ideals of the US. As I unequivocally stated in my confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate, waterboarding is torture. My [...]
The Supreme Iraq Criminal Tribunal convicted Ali Hassan al-Majid Monday of murder and sentenced him to a third death sentence, while acquitting former Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz . Al-Majid, better known in the Western Media as "Chemical Ali," and a cousin of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, was convicted along with two other [...]
Zimbabwean human rights activist Jestina Mukoko was released on bail Monday after three months of detention on the authorization of President Robert Mugabe . Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) , had been held without chargers since December and was allegedly subjected to torture during her incarceration. Mukoko has been hospitalized for the [...]
The US Supreme Court granted certiorari in one case on Monday. In Reed Elvesier v. Muchnick , the Court will consider whether a US code provision on copyright infringement removes federal court subject matter jurisdiction over settlement agreements between parties in infringement cases. Under § 411(a), only those copyright holders who have registered their works [...]
The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases on Monday. In District Attorney’s Office v. Osborne , the Court heard arguments on whether a defendant has the right to obtain post-conviction access to the state’s biological evidence under Section 1983 or the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process clause. The US Court of Appeals for the [...]
The UK government's independent reviewer of terror laws on Sunday called for a judicial inquiry into British complicity in US rendition and torture. The reviewer, Lord Carlile of Berriew , specifically cited the case of Binyam Mohamed , the British resident who alleges that he was tortured with the knowledge of MI5 while held in [...]
The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) said in a report released Monday that incidents of anti-Semitism have increased in the EU since December 2008 after declining in 2007 and 2008. The report found "an increase in anti-Semitic activity between 2001 and 2002, between 2003 and 2004 and again in 2006, but a decrease in [...]
UN special rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak has told the British government that the United Kingdom may have acquiesced in the mistreatment of terror suspect detainees and thereby violated the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment . The Guardian reported Sunday that, according to Nowak, Britain's MI5 security [...]
